'Hello Ladies' is HBO's latest cringe comedy

Jul. 27, 2013
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by Gary Levin, USA TODAY

by Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Stephen Merchant is best known as Ricky Gervais' unusually tall comedic partner. They created the original British version of The Office and Extras, HBO's series about bit players in which he played Gervais' incompetent agent.

Now he's struck out out his own with Hello, Ladies, an eight-episode HBO comedy due Sept. 29 (10:30 p.m. ET/PT), in which he plays Stuart, a 6-foot-7 British Web designer, transplanted to Los Angeles, who - HBO says - is "half as charming and twice as desperate" as he thinks he is, in a futile attempt to fit in.

"He's just a loser in England who's a loser here, but even more out of his depth, because his Britishness is even more pronounced and awkward," Merchant tells TV critics in Los Angeles. "He thinks L.A. is exotic and full of glamour, which is kind of alien to him. He's sort of trying to buy into this fantasy and it never quite comes to life for him."

Including his attempts to woo women by renting an extra room to aspiring actresses, who quickly rebuff his romantic advances.

His gawky physicality and futile attempts at dating are mined for comedy in the show, which is based on Merchant's stand-up comedy routine, and is being co-produced by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who worked on NBC's American adaptation of The Office.

Merchant first met Gervais working as his assistant on a BBC radio show, mostly because his résumé was "the first one on the top of the pile and he's sort of a lazy man." They share a "like-mindedness" in their comic sensibility.

He's never been comfortable with his height, and says even with that obvious advantage, he's always been terrible at basketball. But "occasionally I like to go to a Lakers game, because I'm among my people."